Ledgeview homicide case grows more complicated

Ledgeview resident Nicole VanderHeyden was slain in May 2016. Authorities soon arrested her boyfriend, Douglass Detrie, but released him for lack of evidence. They then arrested Green Bay resident George Steven Burch, who they said had given VanderHeyden a ride home from a Green Bay bar. He is scheduled for trial in October 2017 on a charge of first-degree intentional homicide.
Wochit

GREEN BAY - A man charged with killing Ledgeview resident Nicole VanderHeyden claims the actual killer is her live-in boyfriend — the man authorities accused of the crime last year, but later released.

Over prosecutors' objections, public defenders for Green Bay resident George Steven Burch, 39, have asked a judge to allow them to introduce evidence that VanderHeyden was slain by Douglass Detrie. VanderHeyden, Detrie and their then-9-month-old son lived together at Detrie's house on Berkley Road in Ledgeview.

"Detrie had motive, opportunity and a direct connection to the murder of Nicole VanderHeyden," lawyers Jeffrey Cano, Lee Schuchart and Scott Stebbins claim in an 18-page motion filed in Brown County Circuit Court.

They say Detrie, now 35, and VanderHeyden, 31, had a strained relationship. They claim Detrie snapped when he discovered Burch and VanderHeyden together in a vehicle in Detrie's driveway in the early morning of May 21, 2016.

Prosecutors paint that claim as a Hail Mary by a defendant desperate to avoid a conviction that could send him to prison for decades.

"The defendant wishes to admit 'evidence' that Doug Detrie committed the alleged crime so he can support the fantastic tale he has created to explain his own involvement in Nicole's death," Wendy Lemkuil and Amy Pautzke wrote in a 23-page response. "Evidence … designed only to distract the jury from the defendant's conduct, and to pass the blame onto someone else."

Authorities have said Burch killed VanderHeyden early on May 21 after giving her a ride home from a bar in Green Bay's Broadway District, where both had been drinking. Prosecutors say they have evidence placing Burch at the murder scene, and in the Bellevue farm field where her body was found later on the day she was killed.

Conflicting scenarios

Burch's lawyers, though, paint a different scenario.

Burch(Photo: Courtesy of Brown County Jail)

Theirs says Detrie discovered his girlfriend with Burch in Detrie's driveway, and knocked Burch out. They claim VanderHeyden was not moving when Burch came to, so Detrie forced him at gunpoint to drive the body to the Bellevue field.

Deputies had initially arrested Detrie on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide last May 25, saying blood found near the couple's home tied him to the crime. But they released him June 10, acknowledging they lacked the evidence to charge him.

Now, they insist they have evidence that shows he could not have killed VanderHeyden.

They say Detrie's Fitbit — a wearable device that tracks heart rate — shows he was asleep when VanderHeyden was killed. They also indicate that the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Detrie would have had difficulty overpowering Burch, who is 5 inches taller and 70 pounds heavier.

Lawyers for Burch and the state are due in court June 16 for a motion hearing.

Burch, who is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, is being held in Brown County Jail in lieu of a $2 million bond. The case is scheduled for an Oct. 10 jury trial that is expected to last about 10 days.

More legal issues

Detrie's legal issues, meanwhile, did not end with his release.

Detrie(Photo: Courtesy of the Brown County Jail)

In a criminal complaint filed last week, authorities accuse him of two felonies and a misdemeanor in a domestic incident involving VanderHeyden's sister.

The sister told deputies she had been living at Detrie's house to help care for VanderHeyden's son.

The complaint filed by Brown County Deputy Charles Tassoul accuses Detrie of recklessly endangering the woman's safety, and false imprisonment, during a Feb. 11 dispute in a car in Allouez. The complaint alleges Detrie became angry after the woman rebuffed an advance he made, speeding south on Riverside Drive and refusing to let her out of the car though she repeatedly demanded he do so.

Detrie also is charged with disorderly conduct. He is scheduled for an initial appearance on the charges at 8:30 a.m. June 1 in Brown County Circuit Court.